Molecular Mimicry is a biological concept that describes when something in the body, usually a protein on a virus or a cell, mimics something that it is not. I originally trained as a virologist, so in this context the proteins on the surface of a virus could look like that of its host. Effectively hiding itself from the immune system. This is a useful strategy for a virus that wants to discreetly infect a host, but it is a bad strategy if that virus is trying to create its own identity.
I have always struggled with pinpointing my identity. I am a child of a Pakistani and Colombian couple born and raised in California. I am a scientist, an artist, a librarian, a hippie, a techie, a public speaker, a performer, a dancer, a musician, a Muslim. I am so many things sometimes I feel like I will never fully be any of those things. To me, Molecular Mimicry represents the shapeshifting of my identity that enables me to fit within the communities which surround me. In a sense, it allows me to be a part of an unending array of things, but it also perpetuates the struggle in identifying my identity.
I convey this through my art which manifests in various forms that you can explore in this web space.
Ibraheem Ali, PhD